What are these?

as1720

Member
New to the whole saltwater thing i havent been able to find pictures of these guys to id them myself.
I know the wrom type thing looks like a fire worm? But its not red its almost purple. Good bad? There are red ones too and there are some that are red and fade into purple.
The two duster like things i cant find pictures of. So i have no dea what they could be.
Good bad? i need to know if i need to get them out of my tank or not. lol

 

naso140

Member
first pick def looks like a bristleworm. some say they good/ some say they bad. i wouldnt touch it with your hands either way. second pic is too blurry
 

as1720

Member
How do i get rid of them? There are three in the tank now. Sucks they are kinda pretty.
Here are a couple more pictures sorry i know they are bad im not used to this camera....i will borrow my moms tomorrow.


 

jerryatrick

Active Member
I agree that they are pretty but they spread at an undesirable rate. How do you kill them? Well there is "Joe's Juice" and I have heard of people squirting them with boiling water. I would not squirt the one with boiling water that is near the feather duster. Or was that the same one with just another camera angle?
This type of hitch hiker is also commonly named Tube, Glass, and Rock Anemone.
Can't remember the name of this invert, but there is a critter that eats aiptasia.
 

rushprop

Member
looks kinda large for peppermint shrimp. from what i have heard and own experience, if its too big the shrimp cant take it down. Ihave one large one that I have tried twice to kill with syringe and boiling water to no availe. Just ordered some joes juice. Although yours seems to be quite easy to access, so you may want to try the boiling water trick. I did it on another one that was easier to get to the base and it was dead in seconds. good luck.
 

robdog696

Member
The brown one appears to be a feather duster. It's fine. Just worry about the white one. It's in a crevice and will retreat as soon as you try to stab it. Plug the hole with glue if you can't stab him.
 

as1720

Member
Will the joes juice kill all the star fish on there?
Ment to ask about those too. They look like sepent/bristle starfish. Are they good or bad? Hoe meny are too meny?
i'll try to get decent pictures of them.
 

rushprop

Member
They are usually good. But I dont know if the "too much of a good thing" rule applies here. Or maybe you just have alot out because there is nothing to keep them in hiding. maybe someone else with more experience wants to weigh in here.
 
IMO, the brittle stars and bristle worms are a good thing, I have lots with no problems
Aptasia are not good and could spread quickly. I would suggest a couple peppermint shrimp. I have a Jaded Filefish which does a good job of ridding my tanks of the pest.
 

texasmetal

Active Member
You can buy a small container of Kalkwasser probably cheaper than Joe's Juice. It's to buffer your water. Basically the same exact thing as Joe's Juice.
Get a small syringe at a drug store, cheap as dirt. Mix some of the kalk with a little bit of tank water to make a thick fluid, almost paste.
Turn off your circulation pumps so it doesn't blow everywhere. Squirt it directly into their mouths. Wah-lah. Dead aiptasia.
If you do it a lot
it might effect your ph. Otherwise it's pretty harmless.
 

big

Active Member
Try hot Lemon juice from one or those little plastic lemons for the Aptasia

Heat the lemon juice real hot and squirt it directly on him with a little syringe like the ones in test kits. Another way some say is a paste of Kalk applied to him. But I know from back when I set up my first tank the very hot lemon juice work well for me..........
Welcome to the obsession!!
 

as1720

Member
Well i think i am going to go the natural way and get some of the pepermint shrimp. I keep finding new ones. So i'll let the shrimp do it. There are too meny to be messing with the tank so much i think. What i thought was three turned into like 5 already. I thought with this being a new tank that is going through a cycle they would be dying guess not.
All the brittle stars are hiding now.
Im waiting on my darn sand to come.
 

texasmetal

Active Member
There is no guarantee peppermint shrimp will kill them. They might. They might not. Some things are tough enough to live through the cycle.
I still say Kalkwasser. It's just to make calcium water with. Nothing un-natural about it.
 
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